Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The above images are an intriguing mix of patterns for lace making surrounding various alphabet and script styles. The suite of engravings was produced in 1604 by Antonello Bertozzi and Sebastian Zanilla in Padua and is simply known as 'Book on Lace'.

I have found exactly zero background (again) to this work and only a passing reference to Bertozzi on this page.

The book belongs to the University of California Libraries* and, as mentioned a few weeks ago in the Ornamental Typography post, is available in various formats from Archive.org. I have taken the liberty of removing the holepunched library markings as well as the digital trade watermarks from the above images. I won't embarrass the Redmond outfit who digitised the work by mentioning their name. It could only have been an oversight on their part that the company brand name and statement was plastered onto the actual illustrations in this public domain book right?

karla, come on over to Arachne, the lace list (see subscription information at http://www.geocities.com/heartland/fields/1404/handbook.html); we'll be delighted to get you started on lacemaking. I know we have lacemakers near you!